The launch of a PAC could put Jon Huntsman in danger of defying the Hatch Act. |
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One Republican lawyer who has advised other potential 2012 candidates expressed surprise at the “campaign-in-waiting” language used by Horizon PAC and argued that it’s dangerous for Horizon officials to be presenting their enterprise as a just-add-water operation for 2012.

“If I were their lawyer, I would never let them say ‘campaign-in-waiting,’ because the Hatch Act says you can’t be involved in a partisan political campaign — any partisan political campaign” the lawyer said.

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The lawyer added: “A lot of this, there’s not bright-line answers on, probably because I’ve never seen a sitting ambassador do this.”

And it’s not just the Hatch Act that Huntsman has to worry about. There are also even more-restrictive State Department guidelines on what officials are allowed and not allowed to do in the political arena.

“Political appointees, a State Department appointee who is appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate, is not allowed to run for office, to raise money, to engage in active political activity,” said Laurence Levy, who served as general counsel to Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign.

“He’s not supposed to let somebody use his name to raise money,” Levy said. “The question becomes, to what degree are others doing something that he is encouraging or actively participating in?”

It’s not an entirely speculative question: Newsweek reported in January that Huntsman consulted with advisers in Washington and Salt Lake City late last year to discuss a possible run for president in 2012.

But staffers for both Huntsman and the PAC said that the wink-and-nod prelude to a campaign is being conducted properly and entirely at arm’s length, with Huntsman’s intentions merely being guessed at by the political operation that has no formal tie to him.

“In short, there is no campaign, Ambassador Huntsman is completely focused on his work as the U.S. ambassador to China,” e-mailed Neil Ashdown, who was Huntsman’s top political adviser in Utah and, according to GOP sources, continues to fill that role in Beijing. “He and his family will return to the U.S. once his resignation is official on April 30. Any decisions about his future will not be made until after that time.”

Ashdown and the State Department wouldn’t respond to an inquiry on whether Huntsman had sought or received ethical guidance.

Consultant John Weaver, who is masterminding the effort, said he last heard from Huntsman in a Christmas card from China, and didn’t see or talk to him when the ambassador was in Washington for Chinese President Hu Jintau’s visit in January. Weaver stressed that there’s no direct or indirect communication with Huntsman, who he said could well arrive home in May and call the whole thing off.

This rich man's son RINO is going exactly nowhere with his insolent candidacy. He has been so insolated from reality by his privileged life that he thinks all obstacles will fall away before him just as they did for Obama. Not gonna happen, rich boy.

I applaud Huntsman for staying in the post longer than he would like at the request of the U.S. President. I'm not sure how many other 2012 candidates, including the one running for re-election, would put their personal ambitions behind what's good for the country...

God forbid Huntsman wants to do something good and responsible for his country instead of just bailing out to run for office immediately. He should be applauded for this, not vilified.

I doubt I'd vote for him in a general election, and I have very little doubt the Tea Party folks would destroy him in a primary, but he's a good and decent man. He's the type of Republican that used to give me real problems when it came time for me to decide between voting D or R.

Unfortunately for his political career, and for my choices at the ballot box, the new Fascist Tea Party folks will never tolerate his brand of integrity, which they revile as treason. If you disagree with them on one or two issues you're cast out and destroyed. He stands no chance.

You've heard of the "money primary" and the "media primary". This is what's known as the "skirting the law primary", in which prospective GOP hopefuls prove their chops at thumbing their nose at campaign finance regulations and other ethical issues in advance of the real test of scoundreldom, the GOP primary season.

Henry Cabot Lodge faced a similar situation in 1964. His fans campaigned for him and he won the Oregon Republican Presidential Primary while he was still a sitting US Ambassador in South VietNam. Of course he resigned shortly after winning the Oregon Primary to come home and campaign, but lost the nomination to Barry Goldwater.

Henry Cabot Lodge faced a similar situation in 1964. His fans campaigned for him and he won the Oregon Republican Presidential Primary while he was still a sitting US Ambassador in South VietNam. Of course he resigned shortly after winning the Oregon Primary to come home and campaign, but lost the nomination to Barry Goldwater.

Henry Cabot Lodge faced a similar situation in 1964. His fans campaigned for him and he won the Oregon Republican Presidential Primary while he was still a sitting US Ambassador in South VietNam. Of course he resigned shortly after winning the Oregon Primary to come home and campaign, but lost the nomination to Barry Goldwater.